Expanding on Swordofkings' thread that got us all talking paint, I'm starting my own topic to track my progress.
 
Here are my first experiments in oil paint, getting acquainted with color mixing:

 
Today I moved to acrylics, and put together a piece derived from a photo I took:

 

I'm curious how any painters here derive their paintings. I understand that typically a line drawing establishes the basic figures, but do you paint live objects, photos, or straight from the head? What is your technique, where do you start with a picture?

hey I've been meaning to reply in this thread! that's a nice still life of bottles. I like the style, it makes quite...... the impression (ba-da-dum... ching!).. the green one I especially like, the shines look really nice on it, especially with those short blue brush strokes. the way you rendered the labels is really cool too, especially the bottle on the right.
 
i haven't painted live objects or photo yet... i have difficulty doing that. straight from the head. though i'll practice drawing something for awhile before I start painting it(like one painting i'm going to do has a pelican and a monkey in it- gotta practice drawing both of this first!!). also for compositions, thumbnails! i do tons of thumbnails before i decide on one that looks good...